


Burn Down My Home

by lazydazy



Category: Dollhouse, Firefly
Genre: Gen, Written for SFXPromptBang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-16
Updated: 2013-03-16
Packaged: 2017-12-05 11:28:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/722770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazydazy/pseuds/lazydazy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A crew in need of work. A doctor in need of a ride. A brother in search of his sister. A sister who doesn’t know who she is and an Alliance with a secret no-one should have been able to discover. Will Mal get them work? Will Jayne get to blow things up? And will Wash ever stop playing with toy dinosaurs?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burn Down My Home

“Pew! Pew!” Came the high pitched pretend noise of a laser gun, closely followed by an attempt at a deep sounding Tyrannosaurus Rex roar.

“I didn’t know dinosaurs had opposable thumbs,” declared Zoe as she walked onto the flight deck and leant up against the console beside her husband.

“They do now! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!” Wash continued his play-fighting with his dinosaur toys; the herbivorous dinosaurs conveniently equipped with toy laser guns to help them survive against the tyrannical T-Rex.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “The Captain really needs to get us some work to do.”

“Aaaarrgggghhh! I bite you with my sharp pointy teeth!” Wash roared whilst brandishing a T-Rex at an Edmontosaurus.

“Pew! Pew! I burn you with my laser gun!” He continued in a high pitched voice.

“Point proved, husband,” Zoe said fondly as she pushed herself away from the counter and left Wash to play in peace. She wasn’t likely to get any sense out of him so she might as well find someone else to talk to.

It wasn’t long before she did find someone else. This one was playing with real guns.

“Jayne...what are you doin'?!” She asked.

Jayne jumped slightly, so intent on looking down his sights at a pretend enemy that he hadn’t noticed Zoe come up behind him.

“I wasn’t gonna shoot it!” he exclaimed immediately jumping on the defensive and hugging Vera to his chest. “Been stuck too gorram long in this tin can!”

“Scared you’re going to lose your touch?” Zoe teased, laughing as she watched Jayne storm off in a huff. 

He really had been easier to wind up today than usual, and that was saying something. It was a definite sign that they had been jobless for far too long. She headed towards the kitchen. Getting herself a drink might pass a few moments, bring them a step closer to having something to do. 

“Captain,” she said as she entered and saw Captain Mal Reynolds sprawled in a chair at the kitchen table.

“Ah, my second! Join me, I have news!” he tapped the table twice pushing a chair out for her with his foot.

“It better be a job, my husband has dinosaurs with guns in his repertoire and Jayne is a nano second away from shootin' up the ship for something to do,” she replied dryly as she sat down.

Mal shook his head. “Jayne’s always a nano second away from shootin' up the ship.”

He took a swig out of his cup. “Well, the Dinosaur War has been postponed as I have instructed Wash to set a course for Beaumonde where we will pick up Inara and sort us out some work.”

“Beaumonde is a wealthy planet, do you really think we’ll be able to pick up work there?” Zoe queried, sceptically. "Those people don't tend to mix with the likes of us."

“There will be an underworld, there always is. You just have to have faith in me.”

“Always do, Captain,” replied Zoe.

“Anyway,” said Mal, getting up, “we’ll be there soon so look lively. You can give the good news to Jayne.”

Zoe watched as Mal left the room, headed for the main deck to watch their descent onto the planet. She smiled to herself as she stood up and then left the kitchen area in the opposite direction to her Captain.

Mal watched out of the front viewing screen as Wash skilfully directed their aught three firefly class ship into dock. He always liked to watch the descent from space through the atmosphere of a planet. It was a little bit like being a giant being able to see the world as if it were ant sized; not that he'd say something like that out loud, the crew would laugh for days.

Beaumonde was difficult to see on much of the descent due to the layer of smog that hung above the factories and buildings of its many cities. Once through the thick gray pollution, Wash followed the lights set up to guide ships into the docks and set Serenity down with practiced ease.

“Like a leaf on the wind,” he said smiling to himself.

“Jayne, Zoe, you’re with me. Wash, make sure Inara doesn't have any problems dockin' with us and Kaylee...fix whatever needs fixin'.” Mal gesticulated to the crew as he ordered them about and then he led the way off the spacecraft and into the depths of New Dunsmuir.

“Well, I guess there’s work to be done,” Kaylee said, mostly to herself. “This baby won’t fix herself.” With that, she headed off to barter for parts along the dock.

Wash stayed put for a while, checking his flight deck and making sure it was closed down properly and then attempting to make contact with Inara. They’d landed in a docking area that was big enough to allow their shuttles to take off or land without the main ship having to go airborne so he wouldn’t need to do anything to allow Inara to re-connect with them. He wasn't really sure why the Captain had deemed it necessary that Wash stay behind, but then when it came to Inara there was no telling why the Captain did what he did. He tried her frequency again and this time got an answer.

“Hello Inara!” he said, smiling as she came onto the screen in front of him.

“Hello Wash, how are you?” she replied with a small, happy smile.

“Good, thank you. Got us to Beaumonde so you can join us as soon as you like,” Wash grinned, “I’m your greeting party, courtesy of the Captain!”

“That is very nice of him. I have completed all the work I needed to do here so I will be with you shortly. What bay are you in?” Inara asked.

Wash told her where they were docked and settled in to wait for her imminent arrival. A short while later Inara skilfully docked her shuttle into its home on Serenity and exited into the main ship. She headed down to the cargo bay where, at that very moment, Wash was helping Kaylee with some parts that she had managed to barter for. 

“Inara!” Kaylee exclaimed happily as she ran over to her and went to hug her.

She had oily hands and was holding a coolant control valve in one of them so the hug was more tops of the arms only and cheek to cheek with a “mwah!” noise as she gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Oops, sorry. Look at me nearly getting you as dirty as I am! And you with your pretty silks!” Kaylee backed off a bit, still beaming at Inara.

“That’s ok, Kaylee, it’s so good to see you,” Inara replied.

Wash approached and hugged the pair of them. “My ladies back together, it's a magical moment. All we need now is the wife and the children and we’re all set!”

“Who’re you calling a gorram child?” Jayne’s voice rang out across the hold as Mal drove the buggy up the ramp and Jayne and Zoe jumped off near to the other three.

“Wife!” Wash stated with a growl and a leer.

“Husband!” Zoe replied, amused. “Help us off load this gear.”

“Ooh, gear?! Do we have a job?” Wash asked Mal as he jumped onto the back and handed one of the sealed tight boxes to Wash.

“Yes, we do. Get these into the hidey holes, we don’t want to look like we’ve got anythin' on board.” Mal ordered and the crew set to work amongst much giggling (mainly from Kaylee) and chattering (mainly from Wash) as they all greeted Inara and got on with the task in hand.

The hubbub of them chattering and working covered up the gentle cough of the man stood in the ramp way, suitcase on the floor beside him and a large briefcase in his hand.

Inara was the first to see him stood there. She approached him before asking, “Can I help you?”

“Hello, yes, I was hoping to gain passage on this ship. I’m Simon...Simon Tam...Dr Tam. I was hoping my abilities as a Doctor might help with my inability to pay in cash,” Simon rambled to a stop, bright red from embarrassment and nerves.

“Pay in cash?” asked Mal, catching only the last part of what Simon had said. “You’re most welcome on my boat!”

“I..uh..” stammered Simon.

“Mal,” Inara said, laying a hand on his arm as she spoke to him, “this is Simon Tam. _Doctor_ Simon Tam. He is offering his medical expertise in return for passage on the ship in lieu of being able to pay you cash.” She gave Mal a meaningful look. “It would be most beneficial to the crew for him to be on board,” she added, deliberately pitching her voice low enough that Simon wouldn't be able to catch what she'd said.

Mal thought for a moment; looking from the nervous, suited and booted man in front of him to Inara to the crew and then back. There was no doubt that people in their line of work tended to get injured fairly regularly and the basic medical training which Zoe had picked up during the war only went so far, as proved a few months previously when Mal had taken a bullet and nearly bled out.

He sized the doctor up; those fancy clothes showed definite signs of wear and repair when you got up close so the lack of cash part of his story held up. Also he was unlikely to be an Alliance spy because even the worst spy would be able to hide their nervousness better than this kid.

“Okay." Mal nodded. "You’re on board. But if there's no actual doctorin' needed, you’ll have to pitch in around the ship and earn your keep like everybody else does.”

Mal then turned and called to Jayne, ordering him to show the new boy to his digs and then to their small sickbay before giving him a tour of the communal areas and the bridge.

Whilst Wash had been at the ship waiting for Inara and Kaylee had been bartering along the dockside, Mal, Jayne and Zoe had headed into the city to some of the less salubrious areas, talking to a few of the less respectable people. It was how they earned a living. They had managed to track down Grubb and his gang and had been given a job lot of medical supplies to deliver to a Rim Planet in exchange for money. Money that they would have to share with Grubb, but it was a job and it was more than they’d had to do over the last couple of weeks.

They didn’t have to leave the Kalidasa system for the job. Instead, they were instructed to head for Kimoto on Salisbury, which was only a couple of planets out from where they were. Salisbury was more of a farming culture than an industrial culture like Beaumonde. Grubb had explained that the area was in dire need of the medical supplies so they should go carefully to avoid ambushes from bandits taking advantage of the situation. He also, very forcefully, explained what would happen if they didn’t return with the money. They were given a time span in which to complete the job and then taken to where the goods were being stored and sent on their way with them.

These were the goods that the crew were just finishing up storing as Jayne, with all the grace of a grizzly bear being stung by bees, took the new ship doctor on a whistle stop tour of Serenity. He pointed out his new cabin room, throwing the doctors suitcase into it carelessly whilst Simon stuttered and startled behind him, then showed him the sickbay. At this point Simon, being on the bright side and not wanting anything in his medi bag to be broken, darted past Jayne and set his briefcase down on the counter himself before heading back out to follow Jayne for the rest of the so-called tour.

After being briefly shown the kitchen and dining area where everyone ate, and being pointedly told that everyone had to pull their weight with the cooking and cleaning, he was taken back to the hold with a “You know what this is” comment from Jayne and then led to the bridge where Wash was preparing to set off with Mal and Zoe at his side. Inara was back in her shuttle craft which she used as her living quarters as well, and Kaylee was down in the engine room admiring her ship and making sure everything was in full working order ready for takeoff. Jayne took his usual seat and gestured for another one for Simon to strap into. 

“You’re gonna need to strap yourself in, it ain’t easy goin’ through the atmosphere,” Jayne grumbled at him, still annoyed at having to play nursemaid to the new kid.

Simon buckled himself in, refraining from mentioning that Beaumonde wasn’t his home planet and that he knew exactly what to expect. He wasn’t entirely sure how Jayne would react to this if he told him and he needed to fit in with the crew in order for his plan to work.

Once the ship was through the atmosphere and into the vast outer space of the Kalidasa System, the crew unbuckled and went about their usual business. Simon, once he’d waited for Jayne to unbuckle and leave his immediate vicinity, unfastened his straps and moved to stand beside the console where Wash was happily playing with his dinosaurs. Simon completely missed this, though, as he stared out into the black.

“Isn’t it funny how such a massive vastness of nothing can actually contain so much?” he mused aloud.

“Pew! Pew!” was the only response he got.

Simon looked at Wash in bemusement and then left the deck, heading towards his quarters. He wanted to make sure none of his things had been meddled with; he wasn’t so sure they wouldn’t be, having met Jayne. After checking his quarters and finding that all his stuff was fine (little did he know that Jayne was actually sat in his quarters cleaning his menagerie of guns in preparation for things going wrong), he headed to the sickbay to check out the area he would be using to pay for his passage.

He entered the room and stood just in the doorway having a good look around. It wasn’t as large an area as he had been used to, but ever since he had left his hospital position and set off on his journey he had not had a room that big to work in, so he was starting to get used to it. This one had cabinets on three walls underneath a sterile work top which had a sink and bin in one corner, as well as cabinets above. There was a bed in the middle of the room that could be highered or lowered depending on what it was needed for and it had a lamp attached to it for if he needed to do an operation. The lighting in the room was bright anyway, and with it being all white and metallic one would think that he wouldn’t need extra, but he was glad they had installed it anyway. It was generally used to stop your own shadow from getting in the way. 

He stepped further into the room and started looking through the cupboards. It wasn’t completely full and there were items that he considered necessary missing. It was also packed away in no particular order so he started to pull the cupboards out and rearrange it to his liking. Adding things from his medical bag as he went. He wasn’t planning on this being a quick stop like the other stops had been. He had a lot of searching to do.

“You settlin' in ok?” Kaylee asked as she stopped in the doorway and giggled at all the mess.

“Oh, yes. Thank you,” Simon replied, jumping as she spoke to him; he’d been so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn’t noticed her come up.

Kaylee walked further into the room and picked up a roll of bandages, it promptly unravelling and rolling all across the floor.

“Let me,” Simon said as he took it from her, their hands briefly touching as he did so.

“Oh sorry! I’m awful clumsy!” she exclaimed, blushing.

There was no room for further conversation as Mal strode passed and shouted at her to get the ship ready for the descent into Salisbury. As an afterthought he also shouted at Simon to get the medical centre tidied away and himself strapped in for the decent. They had ten minutes to get sorted so Kaylee shrugged and smiled at Simon then skipped off to her favourite place on the ship to do her job, leaving Simon staring after her, heart pounding.

The descent into Salisbury was similar to the ascent out of Beaumonde, except this time Simon strapped himself in as far away from Jayne as possible and endured the descent looking anywhere but at Jayne, who seemed to be trying to kill him with his stare. Wash landed the strip in an unused field and, whilst everyone was un-strapping themselves and getting ready to head out, scanned the area for possible enemies. Mal kept an eye on the map looking at where they needed to be going whilst Zoe and Jayne stocked the land cruiser. Zoe with the medical supplies, Jayne with as many weapons as he could lay his hands on.

“Right. It’s a straight in, straight swap, straight out. We shouldn't run afoul of any....” he paused and then asked, “Jayne, what are the hand grenades in aid of?”

“Well, just thought we might need ‘em, you know, if we get trouble,” Jayne replied shifting his shoulders sullenly.

“Hmm, I don’t think we will,” answered Mal. Leaving it at that he then went on, “Zoe you’re drivin', Jayne will offload the goods whilst I collect from the villagers and then it’s straight back here. Kaylee make sure everything’s ship shape, Wash make sure you’re ready to go when we get back; no need to be hangin' around longer than needed, we’re on a deadline. Simon, you’re stayin', don’t get into trouble and Inara..." He waved his hand ineffectually. "... look pretty.”

With that he climbed onto the land cruiser with Zoe and Jayne quickly following and Wash lowered the back entrance to allow them to leave. Kaylee promptly followed them down the ramp to have a look at the land they’d stopped in and Simon followed her. He was annoyed that he’d not been allowed to go. It stunted his search somewhat, but it wasn’t as if he could say anything to them. He hadn’t been completely honest when he’d boarded because he had thought they wouldn’t take him on if he had told them he was searching for his sister.

“Is it always like this?” he asked Kaylee.

“Oh, yes! It is. If it was a bigger job we’d probably be roped into going too, but this is a straight swap. In and out and no sightseeing at all.” She sighed, then smiled at him and walked back up the ramp. There was a rattle in one of the pistons that she wanted to fix before it got any worse.

Captain Reynolds and his crew were, by this time, speeding along the mud track towards the pre-arranged exchange point, kicking up dust, stones and grit behind them as they went. All three had pulled scarves up around their faces to stop the debris from the journey getting in the mouth or nose. Whilst it was a simple exchange, they kept their eyes out for anything untoward just in case. It was stolen Alliance medical goods they were exchanging after all. It never mattered that they were giving the goods to those that needed it. Jayne kept his hand on his sidearm at all times. Always far more wary than the other two.

They reached the exchange point and were greeted by a man and woman with a horse pulling a covered cart.

“You got the goods?” The woman asked, jumping straight into business.

“We have,” replied Mal. “You got the money?”

“We have,” parroted the woman with a smirk.

Jayne and Zoe took the goods from the land cruiser and helped the man stack them into the cart whilst Mal checked the money. With both parties satisfied that they had what they had come for, the man and woman pulled scarves up around their faces and jumped up onto the cart heading off to the left as Mal, Zoe and Jayne jumped back onto the land cruiser and Zoe started to bring it around to head back to the ship. They had barely turned ninety degrees when shots rang out and they heard the pounding of many horses hooves coming towards them. 

_“Gao yang zhong de gu yang!_ I knew it wouldn’t be this ruttin' simple!” Jayne exclaimed as he fumbled in his belt and pulled out a hand grenade that he had put there so as to have at least one with them.

As Zoe continued to manoeuvre the ship, Jayne lobbed a grenade in the direction the attack was coming from and pulled two very large automatic weapons out of the hold behind his seat. He handed one to Mal who had climbed from the front to the back and they both quickly set themselves up and took aim as Zoe sped them on their course back to the ship. 

“Wash, come in Wash!” Zoe barked into the comms piece.

“Go ahead, my Amazon Warrior,” came the reply.

“We're under attack. Get the ship ready, we need to get in the air as soon as we get there,” she ordered.

“Roger that!” Wash answered and disconnected the call.

As the dust from the hand grenade settled Mal and Jayne started to shoot hitting the ground right in front of the horses hooves to make them shy and rear, hoping that it would throw the riders off and give the land cruiser, a ground vehicle with a top speed that would only just out run a fast horse, a chance to get back to the ship so that they could take off and be out of danger. The plan had been launched into without any of them having to speak to each other, they had worked on jobs so long together that they could act just by following the situation, the body language and actions of each other. Zoe kept driving the cruiser to the top end of its ability, taking the quickest route possible even though it did mean crushing a large bush. 

Once through the now dilapidated bush, Zoe had sight of the ship. Wash was watching their approach using the rear view camera. He had warned the rest of the crew and started the engines so was now able to realign the ship so that its rear faced the line Zoe was driving to it in. Kaylee and Simon were all in the loading bay near the ramp, both bearing weapons but Kaylee looked a little unsure with hers. Simon looked surprisingly au fait with his, a point that Zoe stored away to think about at a later date. She revved the engine again in a last ditch attempt to get more speed out of it as horses appeared on each side of them as well as leaping through the brush.

Mal switched to shooting to the left of the vehicle and Jayne continued to shoot out the back, they were now both aiming to hit and not just scare, the bandits closing in on them even with Zoe pushing the cruiser as hard as she could. Simon, seeing that the right side was uncovered, Zoe not being able to shoot and keep the cruiser on course over the bumpy ground, took aim at the nearest rider and shot catching him in the shoulder and de-saddling him straight off. The horse reared and veered into the path of another horse causing a collision that led to a pile up. Simon then looked to the others and started shooting at them. In no time, which actually felt like a lifetime to all of them, the cruiser was on the ramp, Kaylee was smacking the button to pull the ramp up and Mal was shouting over the comms to Wash to get the hell out of there.

The ramp clunked shut, the engines roared and everyone could hear Wash whooping over the comms as they lifted into the air and out of the reach of the horsed bandits. There were relieved smiles all round as they all headed up to the deck to join Wash but then something crashed into the side of the ship.

“What was that?!” exclaimed Simon, unable to stop himself from asking and subsequently receiving yet another glare from Jayne.

“Something hit the gorram ship, _ben dan_ ,” came Jayne’s reply.

Mal and Zoe had already sped up to get to the deck. Kaylee raced off to the engine room to check for damage and then Jayne realised the importance of his statement and hurried to the deck to join the others.

“What the hell is goin' on now? Those horses grow wings?” Jayne grumbled as he reached the deck.

“No, the horse bandits were just the beginning of it. They’d got ships hidden in the barns, they must’ve been switched off whilst we buzzed the area,” Mal practically growled in anger. “Wash, get us out of here. Now!”

Wash was frantically pushing at controls and watching where the ships they could see were coming from as he flew their firefly in such a manner to attempt avoiding any more hits. 

“How we doin' down there, Kaylee?” Mal asked over the comms.

“Fine! Just a few cuts and bruises,” came the reply.

“I meant the ship, Kaylee! We ok for full use of the engine?” Mal rolled his eyes. He did not need Kaylee’s idiosyncracies at a time like this. “We need to get out of here as fast as we can!”

“I was talkin’ ‘bout the ship, Capt'n,” Kaylee replied. “She’s good to go.”

With that, Wash punched a few more buttons and with a “Hold on tight, people!” put the ship through the atmosphere and punched the speedometer pushing Serenity to take them out of reach of the other ships firing at them. Then he plotted a random course so that they wouldn’t be able to follow them.

Once they’d gone far enough, Mal ordered Wash to put the ship into neutral so that they could reassess. Wash did so and then performed a scan of the area. No other ships were in the vicinity, but he re-checked a couple of times just to be sure.

“I think we’re safe, Captain,” he said.

“Good. Where are we?” Mal replied.

“Urm...”

“Come on Wash, where’ve you taken us?” Mal repeated his question, it being unusual for Wash to not be able to answer him straight away.

“I don’t know, Captain,” Wash said, “I’m checkin' my maps and we should be in between Ghost of the Kalidasa system there...”

“Which it is,” interrupted Jayne only to receive glares from everybody making him step back muttering to himself, “Was only tryin’ to help.”

“And then the Georgia system should be over there, but not this close,” Wash concluding tapping the screen where there was most definitely a planet.

“That’s not a planet from the Georgia system?” Simon asked, not worried about butting in as he was more concerned about the fact that there was an unknown planet. If that was the case, it was likely that was where he needed to be looking.

“No.” Wash jabbed at the screen. “That most definitely shouldn’t be there.”

“Well, there’s only one thing for it,” Zoe said with a grin as she massaged Wash’s shoulders.

“Let’s set a course for this unknown planet and see what it’s all about!” Mal grinned. He loved an adventure.

Wash laughed and set about putting Serenity on course; it wasn’t long before they were on their way.

“Do you think the bandits were anything to do with the job?” Zoe asked Mal as they headed back to the loading bay to sort the loot and put the land cruiser away.

“Yes. I spotted one that was a spitting image of Grubb, although I’m pretty sure she was a female,” Mal responded with a laugh.

“What we going to do about it?”

“Well, in my book that means a double cross and there’s only one thing to do with that!”

“What?” Asked Kaylee who was checking over the land cruiser to make sure there were no broken parts.

“We keep the stash and get paid a lot more than we were promised and a hell of a lot more than we would have got if they’d had their way!” Mal clapped his hands together and rubbed them in glee whilst Zoe and Kaylee laughed.

They all gathered on the deck once Wash had steered the ship through the atmosphere of Planet Musterion - so named by Zoe who told them all that it was the Greek word for secret, and everyone agreed that it fit - to catch a first glimpse of the planet and see what it was they had discovered.

To all intents and purposes the planet looked like any other Rim Planet the crew had ever visited. The only difference was the lack of everyday people about the place. It was a little like a ghost town. Except the ghosts were all in blue. 

“I’m not sure I like this,” Kaylee said as she leant forward trying to see further around.

“Wash, set our girl down out of the way of the usual docking places. I ain't so sure we’ll be welcome here,” Mal ordered.

“They do look like Alliance. Do you think we’ve found us a nest?” asked Zoe, speaking generally to the room.

Wash swung the ship away from the populated area where the docks seemed to be and flew them around to see if there was a less noticeable place for them to land. Unlike other planets, this one didn’t seem to have a poor side to it where they could usually hide themselves and blend in with the crowd. After a while of searching they set down out of the way of what looked to be a town, next to a forest where they felt the ship could easily hide behind the trees and the neighbouring hill would hide it from anything further along that they hadn’t picked up on.

A scan of the area told them that it was safe for them to be outside and that the blue people they’d seen on the docks were indeed human. Although that did also further confirm the initial thought that they were members of the Alliance.

“What on earth is this place?” Kaylee asked.

“I’m not entirely sure. Inara, have you heard about anything like this in your dealings with Alliance members?” Mal in turn asked Inara.

“Not anything that would make me think there was a secret planet with a secret Alliance base on it. It’s not the sort of thing that comes up in conversation,” Inara replied delicately.

“There’s only one thing for it then...”

“Infiltration!” finished Zoe, not giving Mal a chance to finish his sentence as she followed his way of thinking so quickly.

“What does that mean?” Simon asked.

“It means Jayne gets to crack some skulls and we all put Alliance gear on and have a snoop around and see what this Planet Musterion,” Mal winked at Zoe at this point, impressed with how quick and how good a nickname had been made up, “has going on.”

Jayne cracked his knuckles, grinning. Kaylee rolled her eyes at him and shoved her hands in her pocket. This was beginning to sound like another planet where she’d be ship bound for the duration.

“You know the drill, guys. This is reconnaissance only. We do not want to draw attention to ourselves.” Mal glared at Jayne.

“Why’d you always look at me?!” Jayne grumbled in return.

“Because it’s usually you that forgets and draws attention to us,” Zoe pointed out.

“Wash, Kaylee, Inara and Simon, you stay here. Keep the ship hidden and...”

“I want to come with you.”

Simon’s interruption meant that the rest of what Mal had been about to say was lost forever in the hubbub that followed. Everyone had an opinion on what he had said, whether it be laughter, shock or outright shouts of “No way!” Everyone, that is, except for Mal. He allowed the hubbub to go on around him until it fizzled out. Staring thoughtfully at Simon whilst he, in turn, stared defiantly back.

“You might be useful,” Mal mused as the rest of the crew simmered down, causing Jayne to practically choke on the air around the words that the statement stopped in their tracks.

“No!” Was all he could manage when he recovered.

“I don’t rightly make a habit of agreeing with Jayne but I do agree with him on this one,” Zoe told Mal, who was still studying Simon.

“So you’ll let me come along?” Simon asked, his voice betraying his desperation.

“Why do you need to go so badly?” Mal asked, obviously still not quite decided on whether he should let him go with them or not.

Thinking quickly on his feet; not wanting to lose the opportunity to go and not wanting to reveal his real purpose just yet, Simon said, “I’m getting cabin fever. I’m not used to being cooped up on a ship this long. Coming along would help me with that and my experience of the Alliance could assist you in the snooping.”

“What does a _wu ming shao zu_ like you know of the Alliance?” Snorted Jayne.

“I grew up on Ariel,” Simon told him, getting a narrow eyed look in return.

“Ok, I don’t want to hang around much longer, we don’t know whether anyone saw our descent. So, you can come with us...but you'd better not mess up or we'll be droppin' you at the next planet we find.” With that Mal started to leave the room.

“Well that’s just not fair!” exclaimed Kaylee, feeling totally left out.

“Don’t worry Kayls,” Wash said as he squeezed her shoulders, “the dream team are stayin' to keep the ship safe!”

Wash then went with Zoe to the loading bay so he could see her off with orders to come back in one piece. The others followed behind; Jayne studiously trying to ignore Simon and the fact that he would be going with them. As far as he was concerned, it was just going to mean more work for him. 

They didn’t need to get much ready from the loading bay. It was a case of concealed weapons only and carry as little as possible as they’d be stashing their clothes if need be and putting on the Alliance uniform. They couldn’t have anything on them that would make it obvious that they weren’t supposed to be there.

They didn’t mess around with getting ready once it had been agreed who was going. Simon wasn’t given any weapons; the idea of reconnaissance being that they weren’t going to need them. Plus, Jayne, Mal and Zoe had a concealed pistol each therefore it wasn’t deemed necessary for Simon to have one as well. Wash did a scan of the immediate area that they would be heading out into and confirmed that they were good to go. With that they all headed out, leaving behind the dream team, as Wash made everyone call them; just to keep Kaylee’s spirits up.

“You never know our luck, we might be allowed out later!” He joked with her as they closed the ramp and walked to the kitchen area to cheer themselves up with a quick drink before heading back to the computers to keep an eye out and make sure they were well hidden from prying eyes.

Mal and the others had come out of the ship behind some trees which they were currently using for cover whilst looking to see what, if anything, would be their first obstacle. Where the ship had been hidden was next to the outskirts of the strange city they had come across on this unknown planet. It was fenced in, with what seemed to be guarded gates at road points. 

“Right, the plan is we distract the guards whilst Jayne sneaks around the back and disarms them.” Mal gestured towards the gate at the end of the road the other side of the trees they were hiding in.

“How are we going to distract them?” asked Simon.

“By walkin' straight up to the gate!” stated Mal. “You good to go Jayne?”

“I’m always ready to crack a few skulls, Capt'n!” Came Jayne’s reply and with that he was off, using the trees, shrubs and grass as cover.

Zoe and Mal immediately got up and sauntered into the road, making their way towards the gate. Simon hastily chased after them, initially thinking it was a mad idea and that he didn’t think it would work, but not being quite brave enough to stay behind on his own. There could be anything out there to get him on a planet that wasn’t charted and no-one really new about. 

Rather than having a friendly “Halt! Who goes there!” call from the guards, as soon as they were spotted a warning shot hit the dust extremely close in front of them, making Simon jump. Mal and Zoe stopped and looked at each other, then back at the gate.

“There a problem?” Mal called out.

“Trespassers will be shot!” came the shouted reply. “Explain yourselves!”

“Well, now, I can't rightly explain myself when I don’t know who I’m explaining myself to." Mal told them.

With that, a door to one side opened and one of the guards stepped out. Mal raised his hands in a surrendering gesture with Zoe and Simon following suit. They then all slowly made their way over to the guard. Mal stopped when they were within an easier hearing distance, halting the other two in their tracks.

“This is a lot better, don’t you think?” he asked the guard, genially.

“Who are you and how have you got here?” was the curt reply the guard gave. His face not even twitching from the stern look it held.

“I am but a mere lowly space traveller and my ship, well, she got poorly and this here was the nearest planet to land on. What planet might this be? I couldn’t work it out my own self,” replied Mal innocently.

Unfortunately, they weren’t to be privy to what the guard may have responded with. Whilst he had been concentrating on the three in front of him he had stepped further away from the door than initially intended. Jayne had taken this as his cue and slipped inside the gate, taking down the other three guards waiting inside. The planet being an Alliance secret meant that the guards treated being posted here as a paid holiday. There was never usually any reason to be on full alert, the most excitement they usually got was an escapee from inside the base. This meant that they usually spent the day taking it in turns to be look out and deal with anything that came their way whilst the others sat in the office with music playing, cigars smoking and generally a game of cards on the go. Because of this, Jayne caught them unawares and had soon knocked them all out and tied them up. 

As Mal questioned the remaining guard, Jayne snuck up and grabbed him around the throat. The guard struggled for a while until the lack of air made him pass out. At which point Jayne let go. Mal and Zoe jumped into action.

“You got the others?” Mal asked.

“Course I got the others,” Jayne replied rolling his eyes.

They each took the outer clothing from a guard and donned their disguise. Then Mal went to the door that lead into the base and looked through to see what they would be faced with.

“You better be good at this,” he said to Simon, “there’s a hell of a lot of them out there.”

Simon gulped slightly trying to hide his fear, then nodded, hoping he looked convincing. Mal swung the door open and swaggered out. Jayne, Zoe and Simon followed all of them equally trying not to make too much eye contact so as not to attract attention, but also trying not to completely avoid it as that, too, would be deemed strange. They had stepped out onto a walk way that lead to what seemed to be a circular building. It was large, in that they couldn’t see past it, as well as being higher than all the other buildings they could see. The other buildings were dotted on either side of the walk way at regular opposing intervals. They all seemed to be one story high whereas the centre building was three or four storeys at least.

There were a lot of people hurrying about from building to building. Most of them seemed to be far too busy to pay attention to what the four of them were doing. As they walked down the street, they looked at the buildings either side to try and ascertain what it was that the Alliance had set up here.

“Hurry up you four! We need you now not next week!” a harried looking male in a lab coat shouted whilst gesturing at them frantically.

The four exchanged glances.

“Yes, you! Come on, I haven’t got all day!” said the lab coat.

Mal shrugged and strode off after him. It was a do or die moment. They obviously blended in enough that they were thought to be who they were pretending to be. Either that or whatever was going on was worse than the necessity to look closely at the people you were working with. The others followed behind. Jayne staring about suspiciously as they went.

Lab coat took them down the street and straight into the main, central building. As the door slid shut behind them they were greeted with a sight of absolute bedlam in front of them. 

“Do something! This is what you’re paid for!” Lab coat yelled at them, gesturing at the people fighting.

Mal ordered the others to quell the fighters by any means and then leapt into the foray himself. There seemed to be a couple of people in blue and another lab coat being attacked by four people in, for want of a better word, normal clothing.

“Don’t hurt them!” Lab coat the first nearly squealed in fright as Jayne waded in all ham-fisted.

“We just need to get them under control and then we can sedate them to help calm them down,” explained the female lab coat in the midst of the attack.

“River!” Simon couldn’t help himself. He had been looking for his sister for years and suddenly, on a planet he would never have found on his own, there she was. Wearing a lab coat and telling them to subdue these people so they could be sedated.

“What? What's this ruttin' river and why’s it more important than me gettin’ punched in the face?” growled Jayne.

“Ah, not important,” muttered Simon as he grabbed the hand of the girl that had managed to punch Jayne and helped him get her down on the floor.

Mal and Zoe had managed to get two of the others onto the floor with their hands behind their back and the other two alliance boys in blue had a hold of the last one. With all the melee calmed down, Simon took the chance of glancing at the female lab coat again. This time, she was staring at him with a look on her face that was a mixture of confusion and thoughtfulness. 

Simon quickly looked away. He was going to have to play this carefully. Firstly because he didn’t want the four of them to be caught out as imposters because of him and secondly because she obviously didn’t properly recognise him. This was confirmed by Lab coat the first calling out “Bennett!” and River replying to him as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

As they kept the four people on the floor, the lab coats administered medicine to each of them via an injection. They felt them relax in their hands as the serum went in and it wasn’t long before all four were asleep and Mal and the others were being ordered to carry them further into the building. They hadn’t really looked at their surroundings when they got there, but now they were following 'Bennett' they were able to have a quick look around and see where they were. 

They were walking through a large open space towards a set of stairs leading to a balcony that seemed to run around the entire inside of the circular building. The space consisted of a wooden floor, what seemed to be a stream with large stones in and walkways across it. There was a space with sofa’s in it, one with tables and chairs like in a cafe and another with mats where people were doing some form of Yoga or Pilates. There was a room off to their right that seemed to be an open kitchen where some were watching the chef at work and there was another with gym equipment in. All of these people using the spaces around them were completely calm and barely registering anything that had happened or was happening that wasn’t anything to do with what they were doing.

“Topher, which one do you want first?” Bennett asked Lab coat.

“Tango first please,” Topher said as he started up the stairs.

Bennett gestured at Simon to follow Topher up the stairs, her face going from all business and brusque to confusion as she looked at him again. With Simon following Topher up the stairs and going out of her sight, Bennett shook her head as if to clear it and then gestured at the others to follow her. 

She led them down a corridor next to the stairs and into a room where there what seemed to be glass topped coffins in a circle around the floor, mimicking the layout of the base. She gestured to each of them to put their person down in one of these.

“Once Topher has finished the treatment that will wipe Tango and put her back into the safe state, I will send the next one up.” She told them as she gestured each to a bed.

“Wipe?” Jayne was unable to stop himself from speaking out.

“Yes,” replied Bennett, not noticing or paying attention to the fact that it was a guard asking and that they should probably already know. “We wipe their memory and it puts them into a childlike state that is the safest way for them to exist whilst waiting for their next assignment.”

Zoe and Mal exchanged glances at that. This place just didn’t seem right. At that point Simon came down with Tango who was walking of her own accord, completely complacent and even smiled at Bennett before going to her bed, getting in and lying down. Bennett then gestured at Zoe to pick up hers and bring her with her; she was looking slightly confused again.

After all four of the fighters had been taken up to Topher in their forced sleep state and then returned to their bedroom of their own accord, calm and oblivious to what had passed before, Bennett thanked the guards and dismissed them without any further instructions. Taking this as their cue to get the hell out of there, Mal lead the others back to the ship. Luckily, no-one else attempted to speak to them or order them elsewhere; they were unsure how much more time they’d have before the four guards they’d tied up in the gatehouse would be found.

Kaylee opened the loading bay to let them in as soon as they came back into sight; Wash and Inara waiting with her.

“You were ages! What did you find? What’s this place like? Can we go see?” Kaylee bombarded Mal with questions as soon as he set foot on the ramp.

“Calm down Kaylee and get the ramp back up. We all need to convene in the kitchen area for food and discussion.” Mal immediately headed off that way, with all the others following. 

Kaylee shut the ramp, practically jumping up and down in frustration at it taking so long even though in actual fact it didn’t take that long at all to close. She then hot footed it to the kitchen to join the others and find out what exactly they’d landed themselves on. The others were all seated round the table and Inara had poured everyone a drink by the time Kaylee joined them. Inara motioned to the seat next to her and Kaylee slipped into it gratefully accepted the drink she was proffered.

“There’s a couple of things that I need to work out, but first it’s only fair to tell the rest of you what we found.” Mal then proceeded to describe everything that they had seen and done, glossing slightly over the treatment process.

“I think that we all witnessed the same treatment. I’m just interested to see whether all the people reacted the same. Zoe?” Mal finished with a questioning look at his second.

“Well, the girl I was dealing with was called Yankee. The Lab coat, Topher, seemed to kind of plug her in to all his computers and then when he woke her up, she smiled at him and asked ‘Did I fall asleep?’ Topher then replied ‘For a little while’ and smiled back at her. She then said ‘Shall I go now?’ and his response was ‘If you like’. I then followed her out of the treatment room and down to what can only be described as a bedroom.”

“What the gorram hell is going on there? That is word for word exactly what mine said and did!” Jayne looked pretty freaked out by this fact.

“Yes, that matches mine too,” said Simon.

“It looks like the Alliance are brainwashing these people. Not sure what the assignments are that they were talking about though,” Mal mused.

“I don’t know either." Simon paused. "...But there is a way that I could find out,” 

Mal looked at him. "The girl lab coat. You called her River as if you knew her, don't think I missed that. The boy lab coat called her Bennett though."

“Ahh...River is her real name,” Simon replied stuttering slightly. "She's my sister."

“You know someone here?!” exclaimed Kaylee."Is that why you wanted to go with the captain so bad?"

“You tricked us!” yelled Jayne.

_“Bi zui !”_ ordered Mal, his face like thunder. “Explain yourself, doctor.”

“Firstly, I didn’t trick you to get on board. I really am a doctor and I really do want to pay my board by helping you guys.” He stared imploringly round the table, receiving nothing from most of them but getting a consoling half shrug from Kaylee. “My sister was taken by the Alliance. She was being schooled by them, like I was, but then she was taken to a different place and her letters didn’t explain where. After a while the letters became less and less frequent and more and more unlike her. Then they stopped coming altogether. That’s when I decided to leave my job at the hospital and search for her. Only to do that, I soon discovered, meant having to leave the planet. I managed to pay my way for a little while, but then my money ran out and that’s when I got stranded on Beaumonde... and you know the rest.”

“So one of the whack job scientists is a relative of yours? Should we be locking you up to keep us safe?” Jayne shifted his chair back, getting ready to get up.

“No!” said Mal, causing Jayne to slump a bit. “His sister may be _feng le_ , but it don’t immediately follow that he is.”

“We gonna leave him here, right?” came Jayne’s reply.

“No! Please don’t do that,” Simon pleaded. “I want to take my sister home. When we get back there I’ll be able to pay you. Please help me?”

“I say we get out of here while we still can. They haven’t spotted us, but they’ll know by now that there are intruders on the planet and they’ll be on the lookout. We go now, we don’t get ourselves into trouble,” said Zoe.

“No!” Simon practically jumped up in protest. “You have to help me, please!”

“Your sister didn’t even recognise you,” Zoe pointed out, not unkindly.

“I know,” Simon sighed, suddenly looking far older than his years. “She’s got to have been brainwashed too. But she knows me, I know she does, otherwise she wouldn’t have registered I was there at all.”

“You think she's had this 'treatment' too?” Mal asked.

“No, it’s different." Simon shook his head. "She’s still her; she doesn’t have the vacant look of the others. River’s still in there, she just doesn’t remember who she was before coming here. River always was a genius when it came to science, I think they took her specifically to condition her into working here.”

“All because we took on a ruttin' doctor, we gotta rescue his sister? I ain’t on board with this!” grumbled Jayne.

“If we can get to River again, it will give me a chance to try and break the conditioning," Simon tried again. "Then I can find out what exactly is going on here and convince her to come away with us.”

“Oh, great. So not only are we rescuing your sister but we’re doing it against her will? I’m with Zoe, we should get outta this _F'n Zse_ now!” Jayne slapped his hand on the table, making Inara and Kaylee jump.

“Jayne, we can’t leave without his sister!” said Kaylee, “I mean, imagine it was your sister...if you actually liked your sister! Wait, imagine it was Vera!”

Mal wiped his face with his hands. “Something just ain't right with this place.I don't like it, I think we need to find out more.”

“I can contact some of my acquaintances and see what I can find out,” offered Inara.

“Yes, please. You do that and we’ll reconvene and take it from there.”

With that, Inara got up and went to her shuttle to make some calls and the rest of the crew dispersed to their respective quarters. Simon could have walked a groove into his by the time Kaylee came running past and told him Inara was ready to share what she had found out. He had been trying to think of more ways to convince them not to leave him here and to rescue his sister with him as well.

“Simon!” called Kaylee, “We’re meeting back in the kitchen.”

“Thank you,” he said to her. Then, “why are you being nice to me?”

“Seems to me like a person deserves a chance and a sister needs rescuing, so I think we should help.” Kaylee smiled at him and then lead the way back to the kitchen area.

“What did you find out?” Mal asked Inara as soon as everyone was there and getting straight to the point because he wasn’t too keen on hanging around this close to a secret Alliance base for much longer.

“I have spoken to a few people and there are rumours of an Alliance run escort service that’s a cut above the rest." Inara told them. "Only the wealthiest of the wealthy can hire out the escorts as the expense is far above anything else I have ever come across in this line of work. They hire them for more than just companionship although I couldn’t get anyone to say exactly what they’d heard they were being hired for. The most I found out was that it was a wide variety of purposes.”

“You're telling me that the Alliance are brainwashing these people so that they can whore them out against their will?” asked Mal, frowning.

Inara nodded curtly; she looked furious. "It seems that way and I doubt that whatever these other services are, they're much better."

“What’s our next move Captain?” asked Zoe, feeling sickened by Inara's revelation and recognising the cogs that were whirring through Mal’s brain.

“Doctor, get yourself ready, we're going back in," Mal said. "Let's see if we can get through to that sister of yours. The rest of you stay here."

“I still think we should get the hell out of here.” Jayne’s grumbles landed on deaf ears.

Mal and Simon donned the blue uniform again and headed back to the base. This time they didn’t take the road, they had noticed a building on the way out that was right at the edge of the base and seemed to be used purely for storage, so they headed there and snuck in that way. 

As soon as they entered the base they could tell that the guards they'd knocked out earlier had been found. There were a lot more armed Alliance guards patrolling the area. Luckily, they were patrolling in pairs so Mal and Simon simple mimicked what another pair was doing nearby and marched off purposefully up the walkway. Their attempt to blend in worked and it wasn’t long before they were near the main building. They entered the same way they had before and started for the stairs straight away. 

“What are you doing?” Topher asked as he came up behind them.

“We’ve been ordered to search the building for the infiltrators,” Mal replied with impressive quick thinking.

“Oh, ok. Carry on.” Topher immediately re-engrossed himself in the papers he was looking at as he headed back to his office, the guards not being important enough for him to bother any more with.

Mal and Simon made a cursory tour of the downstairs open area in an effort to make it look like they were actually doing what Mal had told Topher they were doing. Once they had done that, they headed around the balcony, looking for River. The next room along was the treatment room and she wasn’t in there. Simon shivered a little as he looked at the table and remembered what had happened there earlier. Further along was a Doctor’s office with a small surgery room behind it. The Doctor allowed them to look in both rooms and was the same as Topher; as soon as she knew what it was they were there for, she acted as though they weren’t even in the room.

After checking the Doctor’s rooms out, they went to the office next door and hit gold.

“River!” said Simon, rushing into the room.

Mal followed at a slower pace and closed the door behind them. He then swivelled the blinds to give them some privacy.

“Who are you? Why do I recognise the name you keep calling me?” Bennett asked in confusion and not a little frustration.

“River, I’m your brother Simon,” he said, kneeling down next to her chair and taking hold of her hands. “You must remember me, _mei mei !”_

“Simon?” She still looked confused.

“Yes! You’re my younger sister, we grew up together, you played violin and I played piano. You used to take great pleasure in beating me at quizzes that our parents would create for us...”

"Simon..." River breathed as recognition dawned on her face.“Stop! I remember this. Why had I forgotten?” 

“You were being schooled by the Alliance, I think they brainwashed you so that you didn’t remember you had a family. That way they could get you out here to do their work for them without you refusing to come here,” Simon deduced. “What exactly is this place?”

“We’ve nicknamed it the Dollhouse. The people are criminals that are serving a sentence.”

“What’s the treatment that they go through?” asked Mal, interrupting her.

“It’s where we wipe their memory so that they are in a blank childlike state.”

“What do you do that for?” Simon asked incredulously.

“So that when they are hired out, they can be imprinted with the personality required for the job they have been hired out to do. It can be anything from a companion with specific personality traits to fulfil the hirers need, to a detective with all the knowledge required to find a missing person,” River told them.

“And these people, they agree to having their own memories taken from them?” Mal asked.

“No. They are criminals, this is their punishment.”

Mal and Simon looked at each other. This was worse than Mal had thought. Everyone he knew lived outside the law, that meant that every one of them could end up in a place like this if they were caught.

“We need to get you out of here River. This isn’t a good place to be.” Simon stood up, making River stand up with him.

“And we will, but we’re going to take this place down while we’re at it,” said Mal, “and that means going back to the ship, getting a plan together and utilising the others.”

“What are you going to do?” River asked, slightly panicked.

“We’re going to take down this Dollhouse place in its entirety and rescue you, sweetheart,” replied Mal.

With that, they told River to prepare herself for leaving and be back in her office within the hour and then left to go back to the others and sort out their plan of attack. When they got back to the ship they quickly found all the others and explained to them what the Alliance base was. There was general outrage amongst the crew, except for Jayne who still thought they were best off getting out of there.

They set about making a plan of action. It involved Inara and Wash preparing the ship to fly out as soon as they all got back. Kaylee and Jayne were to set up explosives and booby trap all along the buildings surrounding the main circle and then in the innermost point of the main building. They were to explode them all once and it would take them about half an hour to get them all set up and that’s when they would set them off. Giving Zoe and Mal time to distract the guards and Simon time to rescue River.

Jayne wasn’t too happy with the plan, it not being a plan where they all just get out of there, but no-one gaves him a choice or paid much attention to his opinions so the plan was going ahead as Mal wished it. Jayne consoled himself with the thought of many, many explosions and the hope that they might leave Simon behind and therefore have no further trouble from him or his sister. 

Kaylee was just happy to be getting out and getting her hands dirty.

“I ain’t waiting when we’re ready to set the explosions,” said Jayne with a pointed stare at Simon.

“I’ll be quick,” replied Simon, slightly more scared of Jayne now than he had been when upon first meeting him.

They had a bit of time whilst Kaylee and Jayne prepared the explosives before leaving the ship. Simon paced erratically, almost to the point where Mal nearly exploded at him to sit himself down to stop annoying him. Luckily, Mal was able to keep his cool just long enough for Jayne and Kaylee to be ready and the four of them set off. Zoe stayed with Wash as they had decided to use the ship as a quick escape route and Wash needed to be shown where to go over the base to pick the four of them and Simon’s sister up.

The four heading into the base snuck in via the storage unit and then went their separate ways. Jayne and Kaylee sneaking around and setting the explosives, and Mal and Simon heading straight to the main building to get River. On entering her office, they were confronted with a crying River and an angry Topher who immediately went for the phone to raise the alarm that the intruders were there. Mal quickly grabbed him to stop him doing this and Simon ran to River pulling at her to get her out of harm’s way.

“No! Simon!” she cried. “I can’t leave... I can’t leave without Topher!” she sobbed.

There was a crash and Simon quickly pulled River to one side as Mal overbalanced Topher throwing him into the office’s desk, scattering paper and equipment all over the place. Topher sat up, slightly dazed and stared at River. Mal went to punch him again.

“No!” shouted River throwing herself in the way and causing Mal to twirl like a ballerina in order not to hit her.

“Bennett, what’s going on?” asked Topher.

“I’m not Bennett. I’m River. The Alliance changed my name in their attempt to make me forget who I really was and work for them on this base without having any conscience about what we are doing here.”

“What we’re doing isn’t bad. It’s cutting edge science!" Topher protested. "Soon people will be paying for this for themselves to wipe away the bad memories!”

“No, Topher! It’s not right! People are being brought here and wiped of their own personality against their will!” River told him. 

“Hurry up,” said Mal, “Jayne’s been itching to blow things up for ages, he won’t hang around waiting for us. This place is about to go sky high!”

Topher stared at Mal in shock. “Don’t burn down my home!”

“It doesn’t have to be like this, Topher, we can be together elsewhere, we don’t have to stay here!” pleaded River.

“Whatever we’re doing, we have to do it now!” Simon shouted, getting agitated.

“Please come with me!” River tried again, pulling at Topher’s hands.

He was starting to look like he was coming around to the idea, but they really didn’t have the time to wait for him to make a decision. Simon had brought a sleeping serum with him just in case he had trouble with River coming with them. With her desperate to bring Topher along too and Topher being so indecisive, he decided to use it on Topher instead. He pulled it out whilst River was keeping all of Topher’s attention and then jabbed it into his neck where his main vein should be. 

There was a crackle and spark and some smoke and then Topher just stopped where he was. 

“What the hell?” exclaimed Mal.

“Topher’s a Cyborg,” stated River as though this was the most natural thing in the world.

“Well, there’s no time to worry about that now!” said Simon grabbing hold of River, “Captain, please could you bring Topher along?”

Not having planned for a further rescue-ee Mal nearly refused to do so, but saw the tirade that was on the verge of leaving River’s lips and the pleading in Simon’s eyes and figured that it wouldn’t hurt having a Cyborg on board. It wasn’t as if he’d have to feed him.

He grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder, following Simon out of the door. 

Once out of the office, River led them to the roof, where Wash and Zoe had guided Serenity to. A rope ladder had been let down and Simon pushed River to go up it first. Seeing that they had what Zoe thought to be a knocked out prisoner, she threw down a rope which she had Inara tie their end to one of the main poles in the loading bay and then Mal tied his end under Topher’s armpits and they winched him up bit by bit whilst Mal climbed the ladder at the same time to keep Topher on course and away from hitting the ship.

Once they were up, Simon started his way up and Kaylee and Jayne appeared on the roof running.

“Quickly!!” shouted Kaylee scrambling up the ladder as fast as she could.

Jayne leapt from the building to the ladder and Wash pulled the ship into action just as the explosives started to go off. He scaled the ladder and helped Zoe pull it back into the ship and shut the loading bay door. At which point Wash put the ship into a direct line to the planet’s atmosphere to get out of there as quickly as possible.

River was tending to Topher and fixed his circuits in time for them all to watch the explosions on the ships cameras. Topher seemed agitated so River took his hand and smiled at him.

“We’re starting a new life now,” she said, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

**Author's Note:**

> Gao yang zhong de gu yang - Motherless goat of all motherless goats  
>  Ben dan - Moron (literally 'stupid egg')  
>  Wu ming shao zu - Small fry (literally 'nameless foot soldier')  
>  Bi zui - Shut up  
>  Feng le - Loopy in the head (literally 'insane')  
>  F'n Zse - Pool of excrement  
>  Mei mei - Little sister


End file.
